January 28, 2012

Love Ean Golden performing on his Midi Fighter, now you too can achieve the same magic on your nanoPAD2. Check out the layout and download the classic Midi Fighter mappings for your nanoPAD2 for free.
Midi Fighter is an awesome controller, and the arcade buttons make it super easy to work with. But we don’t have one. Instead we have a nanoPAD2 which is also pretty good. Since Midi Fighter has 16 buttons and nanoPAD2 too has 16 buttons we thought of porting the midi fighter classic mapping onto the nanoPAD2. BTW The credit for this mapping goes to Ean Golden, he really created a masterpiece.

The Layout

The original Midi Fighter has four rows of four buttons (4 x 4) and nanoPAD2 has two rows of eight buttons each (2 x 8). We shifted the mapping as shown above. So now the what we have is, the effect and play settings on the left side of the nanoPAD2 and Cue points on the right side of it. This allows you to play it with both the hands if you want to.

The mappings
The mappings allows you to control all four decks.

Press SHIFT plus PLAY to select the deck you want to control.

SHIFT plus SYNC or PAUSE will bend the track if beat goes off.

Press REC button to drop a loop (8 counts recording). If you stop the track now, the recorded loop continues to play.

After recording press SHIFT plus REC button and now all the eight cue points enable juggling through the recorded sample.

Download the mapping
We worked really hard to create this mapping from scratch. It took countless hours in studying each and every keypress, values, and logic to come up with a workable mapping that can independntly capture almost all functions of the more advance midi controller. Therefore we request you to please purchase our mapping at just $1. This will not only be our thank you token but will help us to put more effort into coming up with more such advance mappings!

Installing the mapping
Please note that in order to get this mapping to work you need to have Korg Kontrol Editor installed on your PC/Mac.
1. Download the MF mappings for nanoPAD2 from MidiFighter Classic Mappings for nanoPAD2.
2. Open ‘MidiFighterMappingsfornanoPAD2.nanopad2_data’ file. Korg Editor opens up, in it go to communications tab and click ‘Write Scene Set’ and hit Ok.
3. Now open Traktor and load the ‘nanoPAD MF mappings.tsi’ file in controller manager.
4. Go ahead and experience the power of MIDI Fighter on your nanoPAD2.

Check out the original performance

You can achieve the same results with this mapping on your nanoPAD2.

What’s more?UPDATE: Check out and download the Instant Gratification mappings for your nanoPAD2 at our latest post Instant Gratification with nanoPAD2.
Since we successfully did this for classic mappings we are really working hard on the instant gratification and deckadized midi fighter mappings for making them work with nanoPAD2. For making it happen we are looking for some beta testers who can work on the pre-release versions of the mappings, let us know if something needs to fixed up before we actually release the final mapping. All you need to do is like us on Facebook and leave a request in comment section of this post, and we’ll contact you. (Don't forget to leave your email address in comment)
Thanks for the support! Let us know what more should we include in this mapping for really taking it to the next level.

January 15, 2012

Till now we have successfully learned how to delete existing mappings, find MIDI messages that out controllers send to Traktor, adding custom mappings and using modifiers. If you are reading this for the first time we request you to please go through the following set of posts in order to fully understand this post and get it working.

In Traktor click on File > Controller Manager. This will open up the Traktor preferences window with controller manager options.Then click on the device tab and select the controller you want to configure from the list. Here the controller name is ‘Numark Mixtrack – General midi device’. Your list may vary depending upon your controller.

As soon as you select your controller you will see some values in the ‘Assignment Table’. Below there will be a button ‘Add In’; click this button to add mappings to our table.

You’ll see a list with different traktor actions. In that list go to FX Group, a new list will open and in this list click on Effect 1 Amount.

As soon as you click ‘Effect 1 Amount’ option you will notice that a line is added in the ‘Assignment table’ with some default values. This is the field in which we will be doing our custom mappings.

Now click on Learn button and rotate your jog wheel from the side. Assignment table will be updated with the MIDI signal value.

Assigning Modifiers
Now is the time to put the associated modifier values as well. this ensures that when scratch button is on we don't want our jog wheel to control effects. To do this we have to put the same modifier values that we previously had while deleting the original mappings.

To add modifiers Click on the box with a down arrow next to ‘Modifier Conditions’ with ‘Modifier’ label on top, in the ‘Mapping details’ section. Now select the modifier from the list that pops up. In our case the value was M4=0 (we found this in our previous post), so click on M4 in the list to select it.

Since modifier value was 0 already we do not need to change the value, had it been something other than one we can change it by clicking on the down arrow under the label ‘Value’ in the Mapping details’ section.

Encoder Settings
Jog wheels operate differently than a fader or a knob, so in order to control effect amount using jog wheels we need to modify controller settings and mode for it in our mappings as well. To do this follow the steps below:

In the Device mapping section, just below the modifiers, click on the ‘Type of Controller’ drop-down arrow and select Encoder.

Tracktor automatically sets the interaction mode to relative. If it doesn’t set the Interaction mode to relative by clicking on its drop-down. Also check for the Encoder Mode it should be set to 7Fh/01h.

Now we need to set the Rotary Sensitivity for jog wheel. This lets us set the value of how much rotation do we need to make in order to make the effect amount to go from 0% to 100%. So let us suppose that we want to set our value such that for one full rotation of the jog wheel the effect amount should go from 0% to 100%.

Typically we should set this to 40% which allows the above mentioned value. Depending upon your controller this value may vary. You can also experiment with this value and see how it affects your effect amount.

Repeat the steps mentioned above and add mappings for Effect Amount 2 and Effect Amount 3 for both FX Unit 1 and FX Unit 2. Fx Unit can be selected from Assignment drop down as shown below.

Adding the Scratch Settings
Finally we now want our Jog wheel to scratch the track when the scratch button is on. To do this add following value to your mappings. Remember you need to add two mappings one for Deck A and other for Deck B. And also this time the modifier values will be, for Deck A -> M4=1 and for Deck B -> M7=1.
Final Mappings
Our final Mappings should now look like:

For Deck A/FX Unit 1

For Deck B/FX Unit 2

Congratulations! You've now successfully mapped your Jog Wheels to control Traktor effects. Did you find this helpful? Do add your comments and share your mappings here.

January 08, 2012

Since many of our readers reported that they experiencing problems in
accessing US only site using Ultrasurf as described in Gmail call features
outside US post, we decided to find an alternative solution for them. Ultrasurf
used to be superb at the time that post was written but over time many
advancements came and now far better services than that are available. Here we
will be telling you about one of such services that completely stands out when
it comes to free US based VPN Solution.

Before proceeding further please make sure that you activated your account by clicking on the activation email.

STEP 2: After Registration Download the VPN Client (Spotflux.exe) for Windows. Then Double click the spotflux.exe file to begin the installation. (Please note that Administrator privilages are required to install this client.)STEP 3: Proceed with the installation. All the screen captures of the installations sequence is available below.

STEP 4: In order to make Spotflux work you'll be required to install the TUN/TAP driver which is included in the downloaded software. You'll get a prompt like the one below. Just click OK to proceed with the installation.

STEP 5: After the installation finishes. Go to your desktop and double click on the Spotflux icon to run its client. Then click Login button and enter your credentials in the provided text boxes and press the Login button again to login.

STEP 6: Yo'll soon be connected with the US VPN service. Once connected you can check the taksbar for the spotflux icon. When you mouseover over it you'll also see your IP address and country you are now connected from.

Did this worked for you? Or do you know any other free service? Share your thoughts in comments and do share this post with your Mac friends! Stay connected with us on Facebook and get latest workarounds, tips and tricks!

January 06, 2012

This post is specially for Mac lovers! It talks about how using your beloved Mac you can get access to all US based sites which are otherwise restricted in your country.
When we wrote an earlier post on our blog 'Gmail Call features Outside US' there were comments from Mac user about need of a similar service for their Macs also. At that time we did not had enough resources to test related services/settings on a Mac, but now Abtevrything community is growing day by day. Readers are contributing by providing us with test results for workarounds we suggest. We like to thank and give the credit for this post to one of our reader Brenton Pobjie (Twitter: @SHIMANOTWIT6000) who helped us with testing this workaround and providing the screen shots needed.

Before proceeding further please make sure that you activated your account by clicking on the activation email.

STEP 2: After Registration Download the VPN Client (Spotflux.dmg) for Mac. Then Double click the spotflux.dmg file to mount the disk image.STEP 3: Double click the Spotflux (raptorvpn client) icon to launch the installer.
You will be asked to provide your macintosh username and password during the install.

STEP 4: When the install completes you will see a square shaped icon on the top finder menu bar near your spotlight magnifying glass icon. Click on the square icon and select "Connect spotflux". Use the email address using which you registered as username and password you used while registration.

STEP 5: Once successfully connected the icon will become a solid green color.

STEP 6: To confirm that you are connected to VPN just open your browser and got to http://whatismycountry.com which will display US as country.

Did this worked for you? Or do you know any other free service? Share your thoughts in comments and do share this post with your Mac friends! Stay connected with us on Facebook and get latest workarounds, tips and tricks!

January 04, 2012

Till now you may have read articles or posts about how to connect to a VPN service using your android so that you can access all those blocked sites. Many of the solutions may have suggested that you need a rooted phone or the VPN service is not free. In this post we will be letting you know how to connect your Android to a US based free VPN service and what all you can do with it. Also note that the method described here does not require a rooted device!

For those of you who want to know what a VPN (US vpn service) can do it allows you to hide your real location and make you appear as coming from United States. It means you can access all those sites which are US only like Vevo, Hulu, Amazon Appstore etc. This solution is fast, reliable and better than connecting using a proxy. Its completely ad-free as well.

UPDATE (28 FEB 2012): Many users got benefited from this trick since it appeared on ABTEVRYTHNG, but since last month we have been receiving comments that users are unable to connect. This is due to the fact that since the user-base grew rapidly, their servers are not responding. So the below mentioned method is not working for some users.

STEP 5: It will now ask for your credential storage password. If you have already set a password before type the same and tap Ok to add the VPN. If this is first time you are using credential storage password then system will promt you to create one.STEP 6: Now you will see your connection name in the VPN Settings screen. Congratulations! You have just setup a free VPN on your Android without rooting. Now in order to get it working just Tap on the connection name. You will be prompted for username and password. Fill in the following details and tap 'Connect'.

Username: The email address using which you created raptor accountPassword: Your raptor account password

STEP 7: You'll get connected! To confirm that you are connected to VPN just open your browser and got to http://whatismycountry.com which will display US as country.

Please note that using this method only allows VPN based access from browser. So your market or other apps will still connect with your local connection.